Sean;
If you are taking your readings at the battery , what voltage do you have
right at the alternator?
The small wire has no affect on charging, it only illuminates the
ignition light when the battery is discharging.
Drive Safely & Good Luck
Ken Lewis<Kernersville,NC>

On Thu, 20 Aug 1998 16:22:54 PDT Sean Bartnik <bartnik@HOTMAIL.COM>
writes:
>Hey all,
>You may recall my recent post about how my battery was being
>undercharged.
>
>Today I finally had the time to replace the voltage regulator with a
>new
>spare that came with the van (thanks Rick!).  On the Vanagon, the
>voltage regulator is screwed onto the front (FIF) of the alternator.
>Comparing the old and the new, the brushes on the old were severely
>worn
>compared to the brushes on the new regulator.  I installed the new
>regulator and charged the battery (the battery took about 3 hours on
>the
>charger).
>
>Now with the engine running and no electrical load I am seeing 13.2 or
>so volts across the battery.  With a heavy electrical load it goes
>down
>to around 12.7 or 12.8 volts.  Heavy being say headlights and
>windshield
>wipers on at the same time.  It does not go above 13.2 even when
>revving
>the engine higher than idle.
>
>So this is better than it was but I feel that it is still not quite as
>good as it should be.  While I had the battery out I took the
>opportunity to clean up the ground strap's connection to the frame.  I
>did the same with the tranny-to-chassis ground strap.  I also noticed
>that there is some significant corrosion on the terminals at the
>wiring
>harness plug to the altnernator and also on the male spade terminals
>on
>the alternator.  Since, however, these terminals are recessed into the
>body of the altnerator and the females are inside a plug, I don't know
>that there's much I can do about cleaning them.  I feel though that
>this
>corrosion could be causing part of the problem. Any ideas on what I
>can
>do about it?
>
>I am planning to try this arrangement out for a while and see if I
>have
>any further problems.  If I do I may opt to swap out the alternator
>with
>a used spare that I have to see if that makes a difference.
>
>Any other suggestions?
>Thanks!
>
>
>Sean Bartnik
>Fairfax, Virginia
>============================
>'81 Vanagon L Westfalia
>'74 Karmann Ghia convertible
>http://www.type2.com/bartnik/tech.htm
>
>
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